Fawsley Hall, Northamptonshire

FAWSLEY Hall’s sales and marketing director Jane Lee says ‘Imagine if you will a 16th century Travelodge’. We were standing in room 1575, so-called after the year a guest stayed en-route to visiting her lover. That guest was Elizabeth I and a reminder of the royal link stares at you from a painting opposite the austere four poster bed.

FAWSLEY Hall’s sales and marketing director Jane Lee says ‘Imagine if you will a 16th century Travelodge’.

We were standing in room 1575, so-called after the year a guest stayed en-route to visiting her lover. That guest was Elizabeth I and a reminder of the royal link stares at you from a painting opposite the austere four poster bed.

I wouldn’t fancy sleeping there – too spooky and you have to climb a steep flight of stairs to get to it.

It is the most celebrated room in this country house hotel, which has clearly come a long way since it was featured in an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum entitled The Decline Of The English Country House some 30 years ago.

A mish-mash, architecturally, with Georgian and Victorian wings added to the Tudor core, it is nevertheless to stunning to look at.

I stayed in a Victorian room that was light, bright and airy – although I did have a woman staring at me from a painting here too. I only just refrained from throwing a towel over her.

Thankfully the eye is drawn instead to pastoral scenes of rolling parkland dotted with sheep.

The Victorian wing was commissioned by Sir Rainauld – later Baron Knightley who married Louisa Mary Bowater. Louisa befriended John ‘The Elephant Man’ Merrick. He also stayed here in the late 19th century as respite from the cruel stares and vilification that were his daily lot as a sufferer of the then unheard of Proteus syndrome.

Fawsley Hall’s history is inextricably linked with that of the Knightley family from the 15th century to the early part of the 20th century. Sir Richard Knightley was imprisoned for allowing Puritan material to be printed at Fawsley in the period leading up to the English Civil War and there is little doubt the family were firmly against the absolute power of the monarchy. There remain potent symbols of the family’s connections with the house, including the original Tudor fireplace in the Great Hall which bears the family crest.

For me the Great Hall, rather than Room 1575, was the key selling point as the idea of nobleman Sir Richard furiously printing Puritan pamphlets in a hidden room in the ceiling is more intriguing than the thought of Queen Elizabeth resting her royal head for a night.

And history buffs can indulge themselves further the next day at Stratford-upon-Avon, since the birthplace of the Bard is a 50-minute drive away.

The ancestral home of another famous Northamptonshire family – the Spencers of Althorp is also within easy driving distance.

However, if you’re like me you may prefer a 50 minute drive in a different direction – to Bicester Shopping Village. The hotel is currently organising a chauffeur-driven service to the village billed as the ‘Bond Street of the North’.

Bicester offers up to 60 per cent off the previous season’s collections from the likes of Gucci, Mulberry, Vivienne Westwood, Anya Hindmarch, Matthew Williamson, Temperley, Hugo Boss... It’s a cut above your average shopping outlet in clientele too – think home counties yummy mummies. Even the toilets are posh – with Gilchrist and Soames toiletries, if you please. But bargain-hunting is the great leveller, particularly in the age of the recessionista.

After you’ve shopped ‘til you’ve dropped the perfect antidote is a spa treatment back at Fawsley, which is now home to the first studio spa off-shoot of the renowned Surrey health spa – Grayshott. Filipina therapist, Myrna, was resting her healing hands on clients long before Grayshott Studio Spa opened a year ago and is glad she now works in such open surroundings. "We used to call the old spa the dungeon because it was in the cellar," she laughs. Now it’s light, bright and above ground. It is kitted out with all the spa must-haves – that smell of aromatherapy oils as you enter (check) fluffy white robes (check) and the piece de resistance – birds chirruping on a classical music CD as your troubles are soothed away.

But although the spa was perfect, more attention to detail was needed in the hotel proper to tick all the boxes for ‘luxury short break’.

There was no shower cap, no radio and no biscuits in my room. No biscuits! A small matter, perhaps, but country house hotel devotees expect a moreish homemade cookie or shortbread to savour with their cuppa as they gaze out at the inevitably stunning views.

As for the shower cap, when I rang housekeeping I was told there were none to be found. Luckily, a very helpful chambermaid rushed over to the spa to get one.

At breakfast, our waitress was not so helpful. When we gathered at 9.30am she brusquely told us that if wanted anything hot, we’d better hurry up. Politeness is a prerequisite when you’re staying in a quintessentially English setting. Putting aside these niggles, I’d be tempted to re-visit for another spa and shopping session!

Factfile: Deanna Delamotta travelled with Cross Country trains, which has an hourly train service from Manchester Piccadilly to Banbury (crosscountrytrains.com). From Banbury, it takes around half an hour to get to Fawsley Hall. Fawsley Hall is currently offering shopping breaks from £199 per person. The package is based on two people sharing a club room for one night and includes breakfast, three course dinner and chauffeured cars to Bicester Village with 10 per cent off VIP vouchers and access to the VIP Lounge, 30-minute massage or facial and access to the private cinema. For more information visit: www.fawsleyhall.com or call 01327 892000 to book the package.